Déjà Vu
by Cayster
Summary: Greg dreams of what could be a very happy ending if he and Sara were actually together. [Complete]
1. Default Chapter

"Déjà Vu" by Cayster

Greg dreams of what could be a very happy ending if he and Sara were actually together.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'CSI' even though it would be really cool if I did. I'm just a humble fanfic writer.

Chapter One: Restless Disappointments

Chapter Note: This is immediately taking place in his dream so do not be confused!

He kicked his feet up on the large board table in the conference room. Greg, more than once, had used this place as his break room because people rarely went in there unless they were reviewing a case or holding a very long and boring conference. Though, seeing as he had already checked the room's use for the day, he made it his refuge to catch up on some sleep since the day had been super slow.

Even though his intent for the room was only for sleep he was having a hard time doing that. Usually as soon as he came in there, he was out after five minutes of relaxation, but today too many thoughts were clouding his mind. No matter how hard he tried to clear all train of thought, he couldn't do it because they seemed to come back even stronger a few seconds later.

Today, Greg supposed, was one of those days that just seemed to hammer you relentlessly for your screw-ups from the past and from the present. Already today, he had messed up on a report over the case he had just closed when he accidentally wrote that one of the blood stains on the woman's jacket matched dog when he meant to write 'dad.' Grissom chewed him out for his inattentive actionand told him that he needs to be more aware next time. Astupid mistake that would definitely be remembered by the team and by Grissom for a long time to come even if it wasonlya small typo; it could have cost the case to go down the tube.

"I'm such a jackass," Greg whispered to himself as he closed his eyes and slowly drift off to sleep.

Just as he was sleeping, the door opened abruptly causing Greg to fall out of his chair and onto the floor in shock. "Ow!"

Someone laughed. Greg peaked over the conference table and saw Sara leaning against the door frame, laughing. "Sanders, I didn't know you were so jittery."

"Funny," he said sarcastically as he finally got back up into his chair.

Sara sensed his bitterness and got defensive, "Whoa there, I was only messing around." She put her hands up as if saying, 'Don't shoot.'

Now Greg felt even more like a jackass for biting her head off. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"No harm done," Sara said as she finally came into the room wholly and took seat across from him. "I just came by to check on your ego and seeing as it's in shambles, Grissom must've laid it on thick, huh?"

Greg only nodded; he couldn't cock up the courage to tell her about it. It was too embarrassing for him to retell still.

Sara seemed to guess what he was thinking, "Yeah, well you aren't the first one to have been lectured by him. Hell, I remember I screwed up on this one slam dunk case because I marked the evidence incorrectly." She laughed at her own ignorance, "Man, did I get an earful later on when the lab saw the error." Sara saw that it didn't really brighten him up, "It happens, Greg. It happened to everyone in the lab before. I'm betting when Grissom was fresh, he probably screwed up as well. He's not perfect, you know, and neither are you."

Greg nodded in agreement, finally finding his voice. "I know, it's just that I feel like I let the team down, too, you know? It wasn't just my case, it was the team's, so I guess I feel a little angry and disappointed with myself for letting the team's credibility almost get shot."

"Greg, lighten up!" Sara laughed causing Greg to feel a little insecure for letting his guard down. "If the team was hacked off with you, you better know that I wouldn't be in here trying to make you feel better. I'd probably be yelling my head off if you screwed up bad enough, but I'm not."

He smiled slightly, "I understand, but I'm probably going to be a little disappointed in myself anyway."

"No doubt of it," Sara said, "I was a wreck after that case! I almost asked for leave."

Greg sat up when he heard this comment. "You, ask for leave! No way!"

Sara looked at him dangerously, "Almost being the key word."

"Right," Greg said sarcastically while laughing softly.

"Now there's the Greg we all love to be frustrated with!" Sara proclaimed standing up and heading towards the door.

Greg looked disappointed when she moved that way. "Wait!" He said quite loudly, he blushed slightly when she turned back towards him with a shocked look on her face. "Ah, would you like to get…ugh… coffee sometime, maybe?" He asked without looking at her, but diverting his attention to the conference table.

She paused there for a second, hesitating, causing Greg to squirm with self-doubt. "Sure!"

Greg couldn't believe his ears, "W-what?"

"Sure," Sara said once more and then finally departing.

He stood there shocked with his mouth hanging open like a gibbering fool. He ran his hand through his jagged hair in disbelief of what was happening. He, Greg Sanders, partially asked Sara Sidle out ona date... well, for coffee.

"She said, 'sure!'" He whispered excitedly to himself.

"You know what the say about people who talk to themselves, right?" Nick said standing just outside the room.

Greg smiled, hardly paying attention to him, "Yeah, that they're geniuses."

Nick laughed, "Right, have it your way!"

"That's a great idea; I'll head to Burger King after my shift ends." Greg said hoping Nick would laugh at his joke.

"Okay, reaching a little, but very creative," Nick said looking up at the ceiling. "I'll give you a seven for that one."

"Score!"

"Well, the reason I stopped by is because Grissom has acase for you so head to his office." He said as he shifted through his papers on his clipboard.

"Thanks for the heads up," Greg said walking past Nick.

"No problem."

Greg headed over to his superior's office. He sometimes got really nervous going to Grissom's office because A.) He was either being chewed out for something ignorant every other time he was in there, B.) Grissom sometimes made him feel inferior because he psyche-analyzed him,and C.) It was dark in there. Seeing as he was only chewed out hours before now in there it seemed to add fuel to the fire.

As he reached Grissom's office, he knocked on the door out of politeness before entering. "You needed me, Grissom?"

"Oh, Greg," Grissom said rising from his chair and picking up a file off of his desk, "walk with me, I need to head over to Catherine's office quick."

"Yes, sir," Greg said walking beside Grissom through the halls.

Gil looked over at him, "You seem tense, Greg, is something wrong?"

Greg quickly shook his head, "No, I'm good."

"I want you to know something, Greg; we all mess up on cases. If I could count how many times Warrick or Nick made mistakes that almost cost us a case, it would be a handful to put it mildly." Grissom reassured Greg, reading through his bluff.

Greg nodded solemnly, "I understand."

"I know you do just don't let it make you insecure with your own credibility."

They finally reached Catherine's office and Grissom turned to Greg, "That's why I'm putting you on the Johnsoncase with Sara. She's the best person to work with when it comes to regaining your composure."

"Ugh, okay," Greg said baffled by hand Grissom was playing.

"Don't worry, she won't bite. Though, she may bark rather ferociously so don't step on her toes too badly." Grissom said before turning and heading into Catherine's office and closing the door behind him.

Greg stood there a moment trying to think of reasons why Grissom was making him partner up with Sara who was by far the best in their team even though a lot of recognition didn't go her way. He could already see her act hostile towards him for getting involved in her case even though he had been assigned to it; she was always insecure that Grissom thought weakly of her and her abilities.

He turned around and headed towards the lab Sara usually worked in during her cases. Greg knew without a shadow of doubt that he was going to receive the cold shoulder even after their little chat that happened just an hour ago. So he somberly took his time getting there as if he was resisting the inevitable.

Greg turned the last corner and his breath seemed to become more and more ragged with each step closer. Why on earth did Grissom have to put him in the line of fire so soon? He saw her through the glass window bending over her keyboard searching for matching prints in the database. Greg couldn't help but smile at how consumed she was with her work, it was actually quite endearing in a sense.

He took one last deep breath and walked to the door of the lab and knocked on the door. "Hey there, partner!" Greg said in the most charming way he possibly could.

Sara whipped around from the computer screen and looked at him as if he were a threat to her general safety.

Author Notes:

Well, I hope you have liked it so far. I know there hasn't been anything really brewing between Greg and Sara yet, but I've got to build the story. Thank you so much for reading "Déjà vu" so far and please review if you can. I would love to hear your comments even if it's constructive criticism; at least I'll be learning something about my writing andwhat you think of the story overall. Thanks once again for reading and I hope you check in soon for chapter two!


	2. Roaring Rampage

Thanks for all the awesome reviews! I'm really excited by the imput I'm receiving. I also love that you all are liking it so far. Hopefully this chapter doesn't disappoint you.

Chapter Two: Roaring Rampage

Sara sat there with mild shock and pure anger pulsing off of her that Greg could feel standing ten feet away. She just stared at him as if she were debating with herself of what she should say and do. It looked like the anger was winning her inner conflict.

Greg gulped and clapped his hands together to try to make the situation less awkward. "So…" Greg started.

"So what?" Sara snapped turning back to the computer screen and looking at the possible matches.

He stayed where he was, afraid if he would move Sara would veer her head and start berating him.

Without taking her eyes off of the screen, "You can come in you know."

"Ha, right!" Greg said inching into the room cautiously. He looked all over for another chair and when he found one, he pulled it over next to Sara.

She finally took her eyes from the screen and looked at him, dumbfounded. "What are you doing?" Sara asked with irritation seeping into her tone.

Greg pointed at the chair, "Ugh, I'm going to sit down."

"No you're not," Sara said looking back onto the screen. "You're going to run the blood traces to tox and screen it," she said handing him the file and evidence bag and he took them. "Then like a good little newbie, you're going to check in with David and see if he's figured out why Chris Johnson had an odd 'x' mark on his upper thigh." Sara told him in a silky, anti-social voice.

He was a little hurt with Sara's animosity towards him. It wasn't like he chose to work with her; he was just following orders. Then she had to go and rub his nose in his freshness in the field, like a senior taunting a freshman. Even though this pissed him off, Greg wasn't going to announce it. He grudgingly walked out of the lab and didn't look back no matter how much he wanted to make an irritated face at her through the glass window.

Greg marched off toward Mia's test lab not trying to hide his pent-up anger. People who passed him in the hall that usually joked around with him obviously saw that he wasn't in his typical happy-go-lucky mood. They merely smiled uncomfortably saying a small and flat, "hey" or "hi," and then commandeering themselves from any conversation that could take place when they scurried off determinedly. Greg didn't care though; it was actually an odd yet powerful feeling of knowing people were actually somewhat afraid of having confrontation with him because of his attitude of toughness rather than his general push-over type personality, per se.

He finally turned the last corner and walked down the final hallway leading to Mia's test room. Greg paused at the entrance of the lab when he saw her reading a rather large and thick referencing book. He finally knocked on the door causing Mia to jump slightly and subconsciously placing her hand over her heart.

"You startled me," Mia said looking up at Greg, wide-eyed.

Greg smiled slightly, "Sorry, I didn't mean to. I just—never mind, it's of no importance." He said entering her room and handing her the file and evidence bag, "Sara," he paused trying to compose himself from grimacing, "told me to drop this by for you to screen."

She took the file and evidence from Greg and trying to keep from laughing, "You're assigned to Sara, huh? Good luck on invading her turf."

Greg laughed sarcastically, "Thanks for the support."

"Anytime, Greggo," Mia said not even trying to smother her laughter this time.

He was becoming frustrated now, "Well, I'll be back in an hour so you better have it ready for me to take back to her."

She saluted him, obviously teasing him. "Aye-aye, Captain Greggo!"

"And stop calling me that!" Greg said turning on his heel and walking out of the testing lab. He wasn't in the mood for being teased, taunted, joked around with, or for once in his life, goofy. Why couldn't people give him a break once and a while… was that too much to ask for?

Greg was making his way down to the coroner's office in pursuit of finding Doc Robinson or David now. Who ever he found first, he would just ask them because he wasn't up for playing hide and go seek games right now.

He walked determinedly over to the opposite wing of the crime lab, trying to get his little messenger job over and done with so then he could crack down on the real job, finding out who murdered or killed the Chris Johnson.

A few minutes later, Greg bombarded into the morgue looking for one of the coroners. "Doc? David?" He called setting down his clipboard on a stainless steel counter next to the door. "Anyone here?"

"Back around the corner," David called.

Greg walked past some trays where victims were lying on, cold and stiff. Just thinking about it kind of gave him the jitters, even if he had witnessed an autopsy performed many times already. He rounded the corner and jaw David ripping off his blood-covered gloves and throwing them into the trashcan next to the table.

"Hey there, Greg," he said jovially. "What brings you to my cozy part of the lab?"

"Chris Johnson, to be exact," Greg said scratching his chin.

David raised his eyes brows, "Sara's case…"

"Yeah, Sara's case. Now it's also my case as well and will everyone please stop bringing up the possessive Sara thing up? It's getting rather old… older than my pick-up lines to come to think of it." Greg said looking up at the ceiling out of frustration.

"Okay!" David said walking past Greg and over to the freezers.

Greg followed him and stood just behind the young coroner, guilt starting to succumb him. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, man."

David waved him off, "It's alright Greg; it seems as though everyone is bringing the Sara thing up with you enough as is." He said opening drawer 349 and exposing a deceased person. "This is your victim, Chris Johnson."

All Greg could do was stare at the guy; he was taken aback with how much he resembled him in a way. Okay, maybe he didn't resemble him that much, but he was slightly geeky, medium build, and edgy hair, too.

"Well, he was stabbed five times in the torso and then hung from a stairway on the eleventh floor of his dorm." David said this pointing out the stab wounds and purple line just below the Johnson's jaw line.

"Was he hung postmortem?" Greg asked getting a closer look.

David lifted the college students chin slightly, helping Greg get a better look. "It appears that way."

Greg nodded his head, "Um, oh yeah! Sara wanted to know if you've figured out what the mark on Chris' leg was about."

"Seeing as it's an 'x' shape," David said raising the sheet that covered the victim a little for Greg to see, "and it's a bruise, we already know it was bluntly hit him. But I haven't got a clue what did it."

"Okay, thanks David," Greg said patting David on the back and rushed back towards the door, picking up his clipboard off of the table.

"Oh, Greg!" David shouted just as Greg ran out of the door.

Greg skidded back in, "Good luck with, you know."

"Thanks," he said breathless again hurrying out of the morgue.

He started to make his way back towards Sara's, wait his and Sara's lab now, and would drop by Mia's on the way to see what the DNA analysis turned up. Greg was out of breath with all of the scurrying around he was doing, he didn't want Sara think he was slacking, which would definitely make her even more enraged with him being on the case as well.

Greg finally made it over to the opposite wing again and knocked on Mia's door impatiently.

She looked up at him with an irritated expression. "Is that your way for not making chit chat?"

He stared defiantly at her, but said nothing. In all honesty, he didn't want to make small talk, especially after she teased him. Instead he just huffed in exasperation.

"Alright, alright already," Mia said raising her hands, "here." She said handing her the file back.

"What did it read?" Greg asked curiously.

"The blood found on your victim's pants is not his," she said flipping through her own records.

Greg opened his own file to make it look like he too was looking for more. "Right, I see."

"Also, which should make your life a little easier, the blood found own your vic's pants was O negative."

"Yes, that will make my life a little easier," Greg said smiling. "Thanks for the help, by the way."

Mia waved while she looked into a microscope, "Just doing my job, Greggo."

Unlike last time, Greg actually laughed this time when she said 'Greggo.' He started to turn back towards the lab to give Sara the latest piece of evidence that surfaced, but stopped in mid-stride. "See you around, Mia," he said politely before actually making his way back.

Greg held tightly onto the DNA file and walked much happier back to the lab. He hoped with the new information would make Sara at least a little bit warmer towards him, but he didn't think that would actually happen. One thing Greg learned about Sara ever since he was in the lab, even when he was a DNA analysis technician, was never get involved in a case with her unless you are partnered with her from the beginning. If you joined up with her any later than that, you better bet that she was going to make it clear that she didn't want your help. His cheery mood was dissolving just thinking about it.

Now, he was only steps away from their lab and his nerves were starting to act haywire once more.

"Have mercy on me, please," Greg said looking up in a squeaky voice.

Inhaling a deep breath and then letting it out slowly, he cocked up enough courage to walk determinedly into the lab.

"I just swung by trace," Greg announced grabbing Sara's attention from the pictures of the crime scene.

"And?" She asked impatiently putting down the pictures gently on the table.

"Well the blood wasn't the vic's," Greg said handing her the file, "but it was O negative."

Sara looked disappointed, "That's it?"

"For now yes," Greg said flatly; his bad mood was starting to come back.

"What did David say then?"

Greg prepared himself for Sara's wrath, "He said that he didn't know what would make the mark, so we've got nothing so far."

Sara slumped down in the chair in front of the computer. "Great," she pinched the arch of her nose, "well, tomorrow we'll head up to the campus and check out the dorm. We'll go room to room asking for samples of the students DNA."

Greg nodded his head solemnly. He didn't know what to say other than, "Okay."

Sara just stared at him as if she were studying him like she was earlier with the crime scene photos. "Well…"

"Well what?" Greg asked meekly.

"Well, get on out of here!" Sara snapped at him.

Greg just stood there where he was standing in disbelief. His jaw was hanging open slightly and anger boiled all throughout his body. "Whatever," he whispered, frustration seeping thick in his tone.

He walked slowly out of there with his hands in this pockets already not looking forward for tomorrow when he was going to have be around her for the entire day and not just for a few intervals.

"Why does everything crappy have to happen to me?" He softly said to himself as he moped out of the lab.

Author Notes:

Thanks to all those who reviewed! I appreciate hearing what you all think and I'm happy to see that you all like it so far. I know things may seem a little slow at the moment, but I'm still building the story. I don't want this to be a short story and I don't think it will be. Hopefully you like this chapter as well! Thanks so much for reading! Until next time…


	3. Frying Pan and Fire

Chapter Three: Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

The murkiness of the locker room eased Greg's nervous jitters slightly as he strapped on his blue CSI vest. He looked at himself in the small rectangular mirror hanging on the inside of his locker. He saw a tired and strained man that Greg barely recognized as himself. He rubbed his bloodshot eyes to try to make them a little less groggy, but the effort was futile, it only made him more tired.

Out of frustration he pushed his locker shut rather too harsh causing other lab workers in there to look at him oddly. He smiled embarrassedly at them.

"It's going to be one of those days," he whispered to himself as he exited the locker room. He gave a hardy push to the door and a busy lab met his ears. "Home sweet home."

Greg didn't waste anytime heading over to the lab he and Sara were using for their case. He didn't want her to be even more pissed with him for being late; for some strange reason, Greg felt like giving up on even trying to impress her. He felt like being his old self, not CSI level one Greg. When he was a DNA Analysis technician, he was much more goofy and loveable and, well, happy. At least he thought so and people perceived him better then and hopefully still do.

He walked passed Warrick and Catherine's lab; they were working on a theory one of them came up with probably because they were working with a glue stick, helium, and dry ice- lots of dry ice. Greg smiled at them as he passed and they waved back towards him and then tediously getting back to work again. Just a few more steps and Greg was in the doorframe of his designated lab.

Sara, of course, was already in there looking over the file at the table, which was covered with the crime scene photos once again. When she must've heard his footsteps coming towards the table, she looked up from the file and at him.

"Hey," Greg said solemnly, taking a seat on the opposite side of the table. Her eyes followed him over there.

She looked back down at the file and flipped a page before finally greeting him, flatly at that, "Hi."

Greg just nodded his head and tried to get over her blatant insensitivity. He strained a smile as if saying he didn't hear her venomous tone. "Um, how did you sleep- you look, well, tired."

"I could say the same thing about you, too," Sara said sitting up and grabbing a photo of Johnson hanging from the stairwell. She studied over the picture and then handed it to Greg. "What do you see in the photo that's odd?"

He slowly took the photo from Sara and looked at it. Johnson's noose was a sheet that was twisted tightly around his neck. The knot that kept it in place and from Chris from falling was tied from the front. The door was right behind him, making an accessible escape hatch for the killer to leave through. He stopped his analysis when he heard Sara impatiently tap her nails against the table. Greg tried to control his irritation quickly, "Well, the door-"

"Look past that," Sara said.

"Look past the door? I don't have Superman vision, you know." Greg said laughing.

Sara looked ticked now, "I mean get away from the door and move onto another thing you saw."

"Oh, right," Greg said blushing. "Well, ugh, the sheet used to hang him was twisted tightly."

"And?"

"And the knot was tied in the front?" Greg asked, not rhetorically either.

Sara nodded, "Right, so that means the killer had to flip the body over to tie the sheet around his neck."

"Yeah, we already knew he was hung post-mortem," Greg said throwing the photo back onto the table.

"Yes, but that didn't explain why there were two separate blood stains on the left side of the bed and on the floor of the right side without blood stains linking either pool," Sara said sliding three other photos toward Greg.

One was on the left side of the bed, where the attack happened. The second was how the right side of the bed didn't have any blood whatsoever. Then the third photo was of the second pool of blood on the floor next to the right side of the bed. Greg slid all three of the crime scene photos back to Sara.

"So you're saying that Chris was on top of the bed, probably sleeping, when he was murdered. Then he must've been picked up- not rolled- and placedonthe floor next to the right side of the bed?"

Sara only nodded and stood up.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Sara asked picking up the case file and bagging it in her kit.

"Why pick up the vic and put him on the other side? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

Sara looked over at Greg, "Well the killer wasn't that smartanyway because they didn't wear gloves- I found a partial on the sheet in blood." She placed the strap of her kit on her shoulder and looked down at Greg, "Are you ready?"

"Oh yeah, I'm ready." Greg said standing up and walking over to get his kit off of the floor where he had placed it yesterday afternoon.

"Good," Sara said heading out.

Greg had to hurry to catch up with her head start. "So, ugh, how late did you stay here last night?"

Sara looked over at him curiously, "Probably till eleven or so. Why?"

"No reason, I just don't want you to feel that you have to do all the work, you know. After all I'm here now to help, too." Greg said politely as he nodded to a passing lab technician.

"Right," Sara whispered harshly to herself.

Greg looked over at her irritated, but didn't say anything. He just bit his tongue from making any comments just yet. He needed to be rational when he confronted her; he didn't want to add anymore fuel to the fire as is.

They walked out to the back parking lot where all of the Lab's transportation vehicles were parked. Sara led the way over to a black SUV and got in the driver seat.

"Shot gun!" Greg said merrily.

"Greg," Sara said impatiently, "no one else is here to beat for the front seat, only yourself."

"Yeah, I know. It's just more fun this way," Greg smiled opening the door and plopping himself in.

"Right," Sara huffed out of disbelief and started the ignition.

The drive up to the university was awkward, boring, and really long. Greg tried a few times to make some small talk, but Sara quickly shut him down when she told him to be quiet for once in his life or to just shut up. Even though he was frustrated and pissed off by now, he was also a little hurt, too. It seemed like she wasn't just trying to be standoffish, but also a real bitch. Thinking of it just caused Greg to become guilty; he never liked thinking badly of others even if they were being rather rude towards him. What made it worse was that it was Sara. Even if Greg denied it to many of his colleagues and to himself, Greg liked Sara in more than just afriendor apartner type of way. But he shook himself of that thought each time in surfaced in his mind and hid it into the deepest depths of his mind and heart. He wasn't going to let a little, useless crush like that get in the way of his work.

Sara pulled up in front of a tall housing complex, one of the university's dorms, dedicated to Lucy Barbs. A couple of armed police were waiting for them near the doors; they always had to have police officers with them on scene. He and Sara got out of the SUV and walked over to the officers with their kits along with them.

"Hey guys," Greg greeted shaking each of their hands, smiling.

They both shook his back and returned his greeting. Then Sara followed greeting them both. By the way both of their faces looked when they finally looked at her better, Greg had no doubt in his mind that they both were physically attracted to her. Sara, of course, either didn't notice it or chose not to notice it. Jealousy soon coursed through his veins like a poisonous snake bite.

Sara smiled, "Well, we only need one of you, really, to come with us."

"I will!" The officers said in unison and then both blushing in turn. One of them stepped forward, the younger one, and said, "I would come along today, if that would be alright."

Greg was about to speak when Sara cut in, "That would be fine, thanks." Greg just stood their mute with his mouth hanging open slightly.

The cop turned back to his partner and smirked, "I'll be seeing you, Hudson."

His partner, in turn, patted him on the back, "Right."

The younger, now the new police escort for them, turned back around to the two focusing on Sara. "Well, I'm really excited about working on this case with you," he paused making eye contact with Sara, "two."

Sara smiled shyly, but didn't say anything.

Greg laughed overdramatically, "I bet you are," he read the flamboyant officer's name, "Rogers."

Both Rogers and Sara looked at him as if he were ruining the moment. Nonetheless, the interruption caused them both to be reminded where they were. Sara fixed her kit's strap, "Ugh, well I suppose we better head up to Johnson's dorm room first."

"Right," Greg and Rogers said at the same time. They both looked at each other menacingly.

After they made it to the eleventh floor of fourteen, the team stopped in front of the taped off door. Rogers edged closer towards Sara, but Greg stepped in. "Sorry, we," he said giving emphasis to he and Sara, "need to search around a little more." Greg looked up and down the somewhat busy college dorm hall. Students were rowdy until they passed by the solemn door, then he looked back at Rogers, who looked taken aback. "You can stand here, by the door to make sure than no one tries to pull anything. Okay, buddy?"

Rogers looked at Greg dangerously, "Whatever."

Greg smiled slyly as he turned away from Rogers, his new threat no doubt, and walked into the dingy dorm room. He looked around curiously trying to find any new evidence that might've been overlooked the first time Sara was there. Speaking of Sara, he turned around to see her working over near the pool of blood next to the bed, but was looking at the wall instead.

He slowly walked over there and kneeled beside her, "What did you find?"

Sara glanced at him, "Just a smear of blood I missed last time," she said creeping closer to look at the mark.

Greg did the same thing she was doing until she stopped and looked at him directly. "Greg, what are you doing?"

"I was, um," he pointed at the smear, "just taking a closer look, too."

"I think I have it covered, thanks," she said protectively.

Greg stood up angrily, "Right." He walked around towards the other side of the bed now. "It looks like the sheet made that smear."

Click

Sara's camera captured the blood stain. "Yeah, it looks that way." She turned back around and looked at him, "How could you determine that from only looking at it for a few seconds?"

Greg rubbed his face tiredly, "Well, I reviewed a case that had a blood smear on the wall before," Greg said standing over the left side of the bed where the first blood was. "And I saw after a few minutes of analyzing the smear that a piece of cloth or a sheet for instance, would make that smear."

"Wow," Sara said quietly, as if she were saying it to herself.

Greg smiled to himself and looked at the stains more closely. "Well there was definitely a struggle, but it happened too late, obviously."

Sara kneeled down next to the bed and looked at the floor closer, then under the bed.

"Did you find any more blood stains?" Greg asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Nope, but I did find a journal or ledger of some sort," she said rising from the floor. "Here, help me lift this," Sara said lifting the mattress slightly.

Greg grabbed the mattress and raised it higher for Sara to get the book. She grabbed it while Greg eased the mattress down carefully. Waiting for a minute after she found the book, Greg asked, "What is it?"

She turned around, "I think this isn't his, but someone else's because if Johnson wrote this, he would be using third person, which is highly unlikely because this is a diary."

"So it's a girl's, then?" Greg said stepping closer to Sara to get a better look at the diary.

"I suppose it is, but the writing seems a little masculine," Sara said seriously.

"Maybe it's a transvestite's," Greg said trying to lighten the mood.

Sara looked up at him disgusted, "Nice one, Greg." She irritably closed the diary and bagged it. "We'll run fingerprints on it when we get back to the lab."

Greg grimaced at her reaction to his little joke. "Okay," he whispered glumly.

"Well," Sara said looking around the room a little more, "after we search around here some more, we can head over to the stairwell."

Greg only nodded and kept looking around the room.

After an hour or so looking thoroughly through the room, combing through boxes and on Johnson's computer, and finding nothing more intriguing or odd, they both decided they should head towards the stairwell.

Rogers and Greg walked behind Sara on their way over towards the opposite end of the hall. "Huh."

"Huh, what?" Sara said looking over her shoulder at Greg.

"Well, isn't a little weird that the killer carried Johnson through this hall, a dormitory hall which is even busy in the early morning?" Greg said looking around at the passing students.

Sara seemed to be deep in thought, "Yeah, so it would have to be an empty hall on a quiet night, like all of the students we interviewed said, or someone saw something, but they're afraid to say."

"Right," Greg said as they started to walk again.

He expected her to compliment him on his common sense, she obviously missed the first time, but it didn't come. Greg ran his hands through his hair in frustration and brushed the hurt attitude out of his thoughts.

They finally reached the stairwell door, but this time Rogers stayed at the door without being told. Greg and Sara entered the bright stairwell and immediately got to work. They found nothing else out of the ordinary or any extra evidence after a very anal search. Both of them were rosy-cheeked from going up and down flights of stairs again and again by the time Sara declared that they should head back to the lab to analyze the diary and blood smear on the wall.

Greg didn't object as he made his way towards the door and held it open for Sara to go through and then going through himself. "Thanks," she said as he came back into the hall.

"Don't mention it," Greg smiled as he adjusted his strap.

As they made their way back through the noisy and crowded hall, Greg noticed Rogers didn't waste anytime to begin charming Sara. He gave her the right compliments without making them cheesy or overused; heck if Greg were a girl, he would've fallen for them, too. Nonetheless, it hit close to home listening to Rogers and Sara carry on jovially, each flirting, both loving it. Greg accidentally walked into a student in the hall causing him to trip slightly.

The student stopped, "Oh, I'm so sorry, man."

Greg smiled agitatedly and nodded, "Sorry." The student he ran into was athletic looking, probably a jock. He seemed to carry himself well, like a confident All-American. The only thing that made his whole appearance off-balance was the black eye; he must be a boxer or a mean football player. Greg, though, kept walking to keep up with Sara and Rogers, who didn't even notice his little ruffle.

The team finally made it to the lobby of the dormitory and by then Greg felt like he would be sick with all of the fluffiness and flirting going on between Sara and Rogers. He pulled on his kit's strap to prevent himself from exploding or worse, jumping the pompous jerk.

Rogers and Sara stood there talking to each other quietly as if they didn't want Greg to over hear their 'secretive' conversation. Then Sara laughed that laugh she only did around her ex,Hank.

Finally Greg got fed up with their little forth coming and stepped in ruthlessly, "Ah, well Sara I think it's time to head back."

Sara looked a little embarrassed, "Oh right." She smiled at Rogers, "See you tomorrow, Cory."

Greg smiled at Rogers, "Yeah, Cory, see you tomorrow."

They both walked out of there, leaving Rogers standing there flabbergasted. As soon as they got into their SUV, Sara exploded. "What the hell was that, Sanders?"

Greg smiled smugly at Sara, "I don't know."

"Don't give me that crap! You know what you were doing in there," Sara said pointing at him as he put his seat belt on.

Greg only sat there, "Are you going to start driving back or are we going to sit here all night?"

Sara stared daggers at him, but didn't say a word to him the whole way back.

When they arrived back at the lab, Sara parked the car and locked the doors so Greg couldn't get out. She looked at him, "Tell me, Greg, do you have a death wish?"

Greg unbuckled his seat belt and looked at Sara with a small smile on his face. "Everyone has to die sometime, don't they?"

"Do you want to die now?" Sara asked trying to keep her cool as best as she could.

Greg only laughed. "Please, Sara, how about you just ask me less cliché questions and I'll answer them wholly for you."

Sara kept staring at him, "Okay. I ask any question I want and you'll answer truthfully?"

Greg nodded, "Uh-huh."

"Good," Sara said unbuckling her own seat belt now. "What was that whole scene back in the lobby then?"

Now, Greg wished he hadn't agreed to answer any question. "I don't know."

"You said you would answer truthfully."

"Well, I lied." Greg said trying to unlock his door.

"No," Sara said holding down the lock button. "Not until you answer truthfully."

Greg's breathing started to become ragged and his heart rate started to accelerate. He leaned his head against the head rest, "Alright."

"Go on then," Sara said interested.

"I," Greg said as his breath was caught, "I, ugh, well I don't think Rogers is a great guy. I don't think you should be flirting with that type of guy."

"What kind of guy?" Sara asked out of curiosity and out of exasperation.

"I answered you're question, Sara!" Greg said throwing his hands up in the air.

"Not wholly," Sara said determined to get the answer, the thruth.

Greg placed his head in his hands, "Because, Rogers is one of those guys who uses woman," Greg paused, "like Hank." He felt very vulnerable in this situation; he was playing with fire and he didn't want to get burned. Greg didn't want Sara to know how he really felt about, about… her.

Sara looked at him, taken aback. Her mouth was slightly open in shock, but she slowly recovered, "How would you know that?"

"I answered your question so let me out," Greg said impatiently. "Now!"

With his outburst, Sara obliged. He quickly got out of the car and slammed the door shut. Greg walked around as if pacing and rubbed his face harshly. His mind was racing with mixed emotions. He was dangerously close to exposing his well hidden, well guarded heart. Greg knew Sara wouldn't return those feelings he held for her and he didn't want to know how it would feel to finally hear her say the inevitable, not yet.

Greg started to walk off towards the staff parking lot when he heard his name being called. "Greg!" It was Sara, he kept walking determinedly towards his car, though. She must've taken the hint and didn't pursue him any further.

He hastily got in his car and sped off away from his feelings and vulnerability, away from Sara.

Author Notes:

Thanks for all of the lovely reviews! I'm very, very flattered by them and your eagerness. I'm happy you all are liking it so far and hopefully this chapter lived up to the previous two. If it didn't go ahead and tell me. Please, please, please tell me your thoughts on the chapter, the overall story, or about my writing if need critiquing. Thanks for reading!


	4. Just Business

Chapter Four: Just Business

A few days had passed and Greg still avoided talking to Sara about anything off-case and luckily she hadn't asked him about his not-so-secret love. He thought that she must've thought it was ridiculous and disgusting since it was none other than the goofiest and geekiest CSI on the scene. Recently, he brushed those thoughts off and just focused on the case before him.

They were still going back to the dormitory each day and again Rogers always worked with them. Sara seemed to not flirt as much this time, but subtly played along, which killed Greg more than her frankness. She would flirt during the times when she thought Greg was too busy working or examining pieces of evidence, little did she know that he more attentive to their conversations than to the evidence, but he would focus more meticulously later.

Lately, Greg kept to himself as they worked, rarely speaking unless spoken to first and even then he would only nod or grunt in agreement. He could tell that the silent, just business Greg was getting to Sara sort of. She would roll her eyes or huff after his precautious answers; sometimes she even laughed at his "immaturity."

Like all the times before, Sara and Greg took the same vehicle up to the college campus and today wasn't any different, except Greg was listening to his iPod instead of trying to strike up a conversation like he used to. He would periodically take a glance over at Sara, but then shut his eyes quickly and pretend like he was too into the music to know where he was looking at.

When they pulled up into their reserved parking space, Greg turned his gadget off and packed it into his kit and walked into the building a little ways ahead of Sara. As he reached the elevator, Greg would gentlemanly wait for Sara and hold the door if necessary for her, so they would be able to get up there at the same time.

"Thanks," Sara said quietly as she got on.

"Uh-huh," Greg responded as he too got onto the elevator.

An awkward silence soon followed and clumsily Sara tried to cut through it. "So I guess whoever is on duty today is already up there."

Greg only nodded his head in agreement and out of the corner of his eye he saw Sara roll her eyes. Seeing this made Greg want to smile, but he controlled himself not to because that would've made Sara go ballistic.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened, they were again on the eleventh floor and at their destination. Wild, college students with raging-hormones filled the hall like usual. Greg and Sara had interviewed most of them and all of them hadn't seen anything unusual the night of Johnson's death.

So far the case didn't have a single lead, except for the diary's unknown owner. They had only recovered prints that belonged to the print on the sheet so basically they had a case that missed the nail to shut the coffin; they needed to find the killer to actually close the case.

They walked through the rowdy hall and finally came to the room where they had been so many times this week, Johnson's dorm room.

Greg finally turned to Sara and actually spoke to her, "So who's on our List of Death today?"

"Wow, Greggo the Business Man, spoke." Sara joked sarcastically as she pulled her clipboard out of her bag. She looked over the names and then told Greg, "It looks like only six today."

"And those lucky six are," Greg asked pulling out his clipboard, too.

"They are Tina Lamphrey, Jonathan Horst, Thomas Fredricks, Diana Kline, Sarah Caps, and Steven Walts, to be exact." Sara said making special notes on the list of interviewees.

Greg nodded again and made little stars next to the people's names pretending to be writing important notes next to their names like Sara.

"Okay, you ready to start interviewing?" Sara asked as she clipped her pen to the board.

Greg smiled for the first time in what felt like weeks, "Yes."

Sara turned and then stopped abruptly. "Wait, we need a police escort."

"I'll go look for Rogers," Greg said breathless because he had almost walked straight into Sara when she stopped out of no where.

"Alright, I'll just wait here then, I guess." Sara said taking a seat in the computer chair.

Greg thought he should go downstairs and look for him near the lobby since he usually took his breaks there, but then common sense took over and Greg remembered that they didn't even start yet. So instead of going to one of his obvious hangouts, so to speak, Greg went towards the bathroom.

He wove around students in the hall still and nearly walked right into a male student as he pushed the bathroom door open.

"Oh sorry about that," Greg said embarrassedly.

"Hey you're the guy that ran into me the other day," the built student replied instantly.

Greg actually looked at him properly this time and saw that it was the guy. His black eye was less noticeable this time because it was healing rather quickly.

Greg finally found his voice again and spoke to the guy. "Yeah, I am. Sorry about that, too, by the way; I was in a hurry and in a bad mood."

"Yeah, that was obvious," he said smiling.

"Well, sorry again—" Greg was awaiting the college student's name.

"Steve," he replied quickly.

"Right, sorry Steve. I gotta get going so hopefully we'll run into each other sometime." Greg said as he pointed towards the stalls.

"Not literally I hope!" Steve joked as he walked out of the bathroom.

Greg laughed softly to himself as he leaned against a bleach white sink and turned on the faucet to freshen up.

"So how long are you till you get laid, Rogers?" A brusque voice called from one of the occupied stalls.

A raspy laugh echoed off the walls and Greg deduced it must be Rogers' laugh.

"What's the highest bid day so far?" Rogers asked.

Greg turned the tap off and slipped into a vacant stall near the back and listened; he didn't want Rogers to know he was eavesdropping.

"This Saturday, I think," said the brusque voice again.

"Well, I'm going to nail her before then!"

The unknown friend of Rogers burst out in laughter and one of their toilets flushed and a stall door creaked open. Greg peaked through the crack in his stall and saw that it was Rogers' partner Hudson.

"Wait! What's the chick's name again? You said she seems fast and easy, but I didn't remember her name."

Another toilet flushed and Rogers emerged from his stall. Greg's heart race had begun to beat rapidly ever since he had encountered their conversation.

"Sara, to be exact." Rogers said as he looked at himself in the mirror fixing any detail that made him seem imperfect.

Greg quickly began to feel a little light-headed right then.

"She's been laying off a little, but that's only because of her partner. I'll ask her out today when the guy's not around." Rogers rambled on as he leaned against the sink and waited for his partner to finish up.

"So you think she'll put out, then?" Hudson asked with a mischievous smile on his face.

Rogers waited for a second, trying to create a dramatic and tense pause. "Oh yeah!"

His partner laughed jovially as he headed for the door, Rogers right behind him, "I knew it; I want details when you do."

"Alright," Rogers responded and the bathroom door shut.

Greg let out a breath he had been holding unconsciously. Cold sweat emerged from his skin to cool him down. Rage was coursing its way through his veins; Rogers was only using Sara as a plaything, a bet. Every man she seemed to like always turned out to be a selfish jerk.

Greg rammed the stall door open and stalked out of the bathroom quickly. He didn't like what Rogers was doing, especially when it had to be towards Sara. Greg was going to confront Rogers about his "plan" so to speak.

He wove in and out of various students and headed straight for Johnson's room where Rogers was sure to be by now. Greg was just at the door when he heard laughter from within the room. He looked in the room from the doorframe to only see Rogers and Sara both laughing. Sara's smile was so bright and beautiful, only if she knew what was really behind Rogers' mask. Right then and there, Greg lost all of his nerve to confront the pompous officer.

Sara finally stopped laughing and looked up to see him. Her smile faded from her face, "Hey Greg."

Greg only smirked slightly, "Let's just do what we have to do and go home." He grabbed his clipboard and started to head off towards Tina Lamphrey's dorm room.

He stopped in front of K-5 and waited for Sara and her fake love interest, Rogers, to get there. When they finally did, Greg knocked on the door.

The very plain dorm door swung open a few seconds later and a very pretty blonde stood in the doorframe. "Can I help you?"

Greg smiled, trying to hide his anger. "Ah, yes! We're with the Crime Lab," he said pointing to himself and Sara, "and we're investigating the murder of Chris Johnson."

"Oh! I heard about that; I was freaked out coming back here." Tina said unconsciously shivering just thinking about the gruesome killing that happened only a few doors down.

Sara inched a little bit closer, "So you weren't actually here."

"What?" Tina asked looking at Sara now.

"You said, 'I heard about that,' if I'm not mistaken." Sara said now smiling at the young college student.

"You're not; I wasn't here, I was at a party." Tina said smiling back at Sara politely.

Sara looked back at Greg and then back at the girl. "D'you know of anybody who would have a bone to pick with Chris for any sort of reason."

Tina looked up at the ceiling in thought, "Nope, not that I know of." She looked at both of them now, "I wasn't friends with him."

"Well, if you hear of anything or remember something later, please holler." Sara said smiling.

"Okay, I will if I do." Tina said as she closed her dorm room door.

"Oh! Do you mind if we get your fingerprints?" Sara asked off-handedly, pretending as if she just remembered, but really she was intending for it to seem that way.

"No, I don't mind." Tina held out her hands and Sara fingerprinted her for a couple of minutes in her room as Greg and Rogers waited outside.

Sara came out of the room a few minutes later with her kit in her hands and looked over at Greg, smiling. "This case bites," Sara whispered.

Greg wanted to laugh, but he crushed the thought of wanting to. "Let's go interview the next person on the list," he said bitterly.

The interviews went on and on and still Greg and Sara didn't turn up any leads, new evidence, or the slightest twinge of hope of ending the case. So they came to the last person on the list and walked to K-20, Steven Walts' room.

Greg tiredly wrapped on the door and stood back waiting for the occupant to open up. Just a few seconds later the door swung open and Steve, the guy Greg ran into twice, was standing just inside of his room.

"Whoa! It's you again," Steve said jovially. "I hadn't expected to see you around for a while."

Greg laughed, "Me either. Hey- well- we're with the Crime Lab and we're investigating the Chris Johnson case. So we were wondering if you had a couple of minutes to be asked a few questions about it."

Steve looked like he was thinking deeply about it, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt."

"Right," Greg said with a smile on his face, "were you here the night of the murder?"

"Ah, yeah I was," Steve said vaguely.

Sara edged a little closer, "Could you tell us where exactly, please?"

"I was in my room, studying," Steve said shortly as he looked at his watch impatiently.

"Can anyone verify that for you?" Sara asked as she quickly glanced over his shoulder into his room.

Steve looked at her and saw her gaze was directed in his room so he sidestepped in that direction, cutting her view off. "No, actually; I was alone."

"Do you know of anyone who didn't like Chris or sent him threats, by any chance?" Sara asked, heading in a different direction. Greg could tell that she didn't want Steve to sweat or feel like he was a suspect, which he was now.

Steve looked down at his watch again and then back up at Sara. "Um, no."

"I'm sorry are we keeping you from somewhere?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, actually I have to go somewhere," Steve said grabbing his car keys and a soda can. "Are we finished here?"

Sara smiled and nodded, "Yes, if you say we're done."

"Well I do have to head off," Steve said looking back down at his watch.

"Then we're done. Um, thank you for you're time!" Sara said as she began to turn around, but stopped suddenly. "Oh, do you have anytime for us to take your fingerprints?"

"No, sorry!" Steve said closing his door behind him and locking it. "Maybe some other time, perhaps," and he was off down the hall only stopping to throw away his can.

Sara turned to Greg with a very happy smile on her face. "I think we have a suspect, Greggo!"

"I think we do, too!" Greg smiled brightly back. "Did you see his black eye? That shows that he was in a recent fight which means-"

"Which means that definitely makes him the suspect," Sara said. "Now we only need to get his fingerprints and if they match the fingerprints we get to haul him in and get a warrant to search his very protected room.

Greg started to think deeply, "Could we get his prints from his door knob or is that still considered his property?"

"That's a tight line to walk," Sara said biting her lip. "Wait a minute; he just threw away a soda can!" She walked quickly over to the trash can and took the lid off. She set her kit on the floor and opened it, put on gloves, and got out an evidence bag. Sara then stood up and picked the can up out of the garbage and gently dropped it into the bag and sealed it.

Greg stood next to her, "It looks like this case isn't so bad after all."

Author Notes:

Thanks so much for all of the awesome reviews! I love hearing from my readers and I'm so grateful for your compliments and eagerness. You all rock and I hope you all aren't too mad at me with my tardiness. Hopefully you all liked this chapter; if not just tell me. Thanks for reading and with any luck, I'll hear from you:)


	5. Piecing and Shouting

Chapter Five: Piecing and Shouting

As soon as Sara put the empty soda can in the evidence bag and sealed it, she and Greg were out of there and heading back to lab as quickly as they could. A few times, which nearly caused Greg to take over the wheel, Sara nearly got them into many preventable accidents. Cold sweat and uneasiness caused Greg to feel very nauseated throughout the entire ride back to the Crime Lab.

"Why are you driving like this again?" Greg asked as he held on to his seat belt for dear life.

Sara laughed, "C'mon Greggo, live a little!"

"I do 'live a little,'" Greg said as he wiped some of his sweat on his arm. "I just want to be alive when we go back to the Lab and not in a body bag if you catch my drif-" Greg stopped as Sarah swerved into the right lane without even looking in her mirrors, which caused the vehicle beside them nearly be run off the road. "AH, Sarah! Stop doing that!"

She only continued to laugh, "Sorry about that!"

Luckily, a few minutes later they came tearing into the parking lot of their destination safe and sound, well, maybe not sound. As soon as Sara parked, Greg unbuckled his seat belt and hastily opened his car door.

"Land!" Greg exalted as he knelt down and touched the hot cement while reminding himself to not take driving in a car with Sara for granted anymore.

When he got back up, it seemed like everyone who was outside was just staring at him as if he was some kind of head case. Greg smiled uncomfortably and waved at them, in return he received blank stares.

"Greg, get a hold of yourself," Sara said as she closed her door and adjusted her arm strap of her kit.

"Easy for you to say," Greg mumbled as he went to retrieve his kit, which he must've thrown as he exited the SUV. When he picked his kit up off the ground Greg turned around and noticed for the first time that the sun was about to set. He guessed that he was too worried about his life that he didn't notice that it was setting. "Hmm," he grunted.

Sara must've heard it and her curiosity was struck, "What?"

"Nothing," Greg replied brushing the thought off quickly and walked into the lab without waiting for her to keep pursuing the subject.

She followed him all the way until they reached their particular lab and then she practically joyous skipped over to the stainless steel large work table and set her kit down there. Sara unzipped it and then pulled out the evidence bag which held the soda can and she looked at it for a few seconds through the bag as if she was examining it for anything unusual or out of the ordinary other than its possibility of being a break through in the case.

"Sara," Greg said softly as he walked over there to join her, "are you going to dust for finger prints like Sherlock Holmes did or am I going to need to take a coffee break while you try to do so while it's still in the bag?"

Sara laughed, "Shut up, Greg."

"Right-o!" Greg said as he set his kit down next to hers and then picked his clipboard out of its designated pouch and added some notes he kept mentally while on the drive back like what he could remember from his first run in with Steve.

As he did this, Sara finally grabbed her clipboard and the notes of the soda can and took the piece of evidence over to the fingerprint analysis lab. She came a couple minutes later and sat down across from Greg, who had sat down at the table by this time, and searched through her kit again and pulled out the mysterious journal.

Greg sneaked a glance over a Sara as she delved herself into the journal and he smiled inwardly and outwardly. He had always loved that about her, how she was able to get so enthralled by her work. It showed reliability and attentiveness, for some estranged reason beyond himself that always had drawn him towards her.

"What?" Sara said without looking up.

Suddenly Greg felt his cheeks become warm and he finally noticed that he had been staring at Sara for probably at least a minute.

"Ugh- nothing! Sorry 'bout that." Greg then clumsily looked down at his clipboard and pretended to be looking over his notes. Words like "idiot" and "jackass" passed through Greg's brain as he stared down blankly at his notes.

"Whoa, Greg listen to this!" Sara said both excitedly and with shock.

Greg sat up straight and set his clipboard down on the table. His attention was focused wholly on Sara.

"Here I go, this is what the writer wrote, but someone- probably Johnson- highlighted. 'I don't know when I first felt this way about someone exactly, but I do know that it's for real. It's not like the movies tell you how it is or how your older sisters promise how you'll feel but it's like embarking on uncharted land that has never been touched before. His name is Chris Johnson and he's the one I've been waiting for my entire life! I suppose my dream will never come true because of what I am; he'll never understand me or love me the way I love him. He sees me as one of his best friends, someone he can throw a football with or talk about chicks with yet unwittingly know my own sexuality or secret life. I guess I always hoped for fate to change the path I'm walking and somehow crossover his… Maybe it will happen someday, after all what's worth hoping for if you give up on love?'" Sara stopped reading and looked deep in thought.

Greg was moved by the message, more so by the ending than anything else. He knew how that felt when the person you're in love with didn't love you back, at least not in the way you want. After all, she was sitting right in front of him and he faced that feat daily no matter how much it hurt. He shook the painful memory from him and cleared his throat.

"Well that's our motive," Greg said hoarsely as he roughly ran his hands over his face.

Sara nodded blankly, "I'm gonna go check on Walts' prints."

As she was getting up to leave, Greg didn't know what came over him. "Sara!"

She stopped and stared at him, but didn't reply to him with a 'what' or 'huh', she just stood there and stared at him.

"What do you see in Rogers?" Greg asked a little shakily. His heart was racing and he couldn't control his nerves.

"Greg-" Sara started but Greg interrupted.

"No, I just want a reason; I don't need an explanation of why you would never go out with me." Greg said steadier than his question before.

Sara looked down at the floor, "I suppose it's his confidence, charm, and his ability to laugh at my dry sense of humor."

Greg nodded and put his head in his hands, "Are you going to go out with him?"

"What does this have to do with the case again?" Sara asked, outrage was clearly be shown in her tone.

"It doesn't have to do with the case!" Greg stood up hastily, anger running through his veins now. "It has to do with you and your feelings."

"Yeah, my feelings not yours," Sara yelled back at him.

Greg threw his hands up in the air; he was facing the dilemma that was staring him down the entire day and he was going to back out of it yet. "Yes, your feelings that are going to be hurt if you let this guy in, Sara!"

"And how would you know that, Sanders?" She was red in the face from shouting and her hands were trembling.

"How do I know? Because I overheard the bastard in the restroom making a bet with his partner about how long it will take him to sleep with you!" Greg yelled as equally as loud as Sara's last outburst.

Immediately pity for Sara consumed his whole being. She looked shocked, hurt, and confused all at the same time. Her face became contorted by trying to keep her tears from falling.

Slowly and shakily she asked, "When did you find out?" Sara started fidgeting with her hands.

All Greg wanted to do was walk over to her and hug her and try to show Sara that she wasn't alone, but all Greg could do was stand there and helplessly watch her fall apart. He knew she would just run away if he walked over there; she didn't like showing any weakness even if that meant holding it in as it slowly eroded her heart away.

"Today" he said softly.

She nodded quickly as if she understood. "Well, I guess I should've known that would happen." And then she slowly turned around, "I'm gonna go get the fingerprint analysis; I'll be back in a few minutes."

Greg only nodded; he wasn't able to speak. His throat hurt from the sorrow and the burden of it he had just laid on Sara's shoulders a moment ago and it was tearing him up. He didn't want Sara to be oblivious of what was happening around her, but Greg didn't want to see that sad and shredded either. It was a win-win situation no matter how Greg looked at it.

Sara came back a few minutes later with a file in her hand and the evidence. "It's a match," she said quietly, a voice much unlike her own.

Greg nodded, "I guess we'll get the warrant in the works tonight and then go up there tomorrow and search Walts' room and arrest him."

"Okay," was the only thing Sara said on the matter. It was apparent that she was already starting to build a resistance between the outside world and her; the wall was already blocking him out. It was her defensive mechanism that made many people give up on having an intimate relationship with her, but it was going to shove him away. Greg though, knew he needed to give her some time to heal.

Greg cleared his throat, "All right," he pointed at his stuff. "I guess I get going then, I'll take care of the warrant on my way out."

"No, that's okay. I'll do; I'm going to be here a while longer so I might as well do it." Sara said as she went over to the computer desk and picked up some more files.

"Are you sure because I can do that," Greg said making sure. He really didn't want Sara to be consumed with her work just to numb the pain she was experiencing.

She looked over at him, "Seriously Sanders, shut up and get out of here."

Greg nodded quickly, "O-okay."

He picked up his kit and his clipboard and started to walk out, but he stopped himself as he reached the door.

"Sara," Greg started as he turned around.

"Sanders if you don't get out of here, I'm going to creatively stick my foot up your- what?" She stopped herself when she must've seen the concern on his face.

"I just want to you know that I'm here for you, y'know that right?" He asked her as he looked at the floor. Greg wasn't very as comfortable as he would like in the situation, but he wanted Sara to know she wasn't alone.

She didn't answer right away, which made Greg a little bit more uneasy.

"Yeah, I know," Sara said as she started to shuffle through the files she was holding.

Greg didn't believe her, but he wasn't going to push her buttons either. He just wanted her to know that he was there for her like a friend would be.

"Okay," he said quietly and then he finally left their lab on a lower note than when he entered an hour earlier.

He didn't know want he was going to do with his feelings only that he needed to keep in check because his and Sara's relationship was strictly business. Greg knew he was going to face a standoffish Sara tomorrow considering the news he had to break to her and he knew he would be able to handle it for the remainder of the case, which was closing quickly. Greg just wanted Sara to happy for once even if it meant that he wasn't the "guy" in her life she came home to each night.

Author's Notes:

I wanted to say thanks to everyone who reviewed, I love hearing what you thought of the chapter or of a particular character. I laughed when I saw that some of you hate Rogers, I do too and I made the guy! Lol! Um, thanks for your patience as well seeing as I don't update very often and I apologize for that. I know how it feels when a story you're reading isn't updated when you want it to so I just want to say thanks and I'm very much obliged. Hopefully you all liked this chapter and it wasn't too cliché. If it was, just please tell me. Thanks very much!


	6. Silence and Even More Initiative

Chapter Six: Silence and Even More Initiative

Greg walked down the intensely lit hallway towards his lab he was sharing with Sara holding a hot coffee in his left hand and his black crime kit on his right shoulder. The events that happened last night were still channeling through his mind. Greg didn't ever like to see Sara hurt or vulnerable, but he knew that he was holding her best interests in mind when he told her Rogers's terrible intentions. Her soft brown eyes were painful to look at; they didn't hide their remorse or sorrow like they usually did.

"Greg!" Someone called behind him and Greg turned around to see his boss, Grissom standing outside Nick's lab.

Greg headed back to him, "Hey Grissom, what's up?"

"The ceiling, but that's besides the fact," Grissom said seriously as he scribbled quickly on his clipboard. "I heard from Sara that you guys finally have a lead and that you're going to make an arrest and search his room so I wanted to know if you already had the warrants made out."

Greg paused in thought and readjusted his strap out of discomfort and nervousness. He was never confident or at ease around Grissom probably because his boss wasn't goofy or easygoing and that radiated off of him. "Ugh, yeah. Sara said she'd take care of that last night."

"Okay, great! Just thought I'd check in with you see if you concurred." Grissom said as he stopped writing finally and looked Greg in the eye, which in turn, caused Greg to become even jitterier.

"Yes, I concur." Greg said idiotically before even thinking about what he was saying. To cover up his embarrassment he quickly took a drink of his coffee completely forgetting it was searing hot.

Grissom nodded and patted Greg on the back, "Maybe you should cut back on caffeine, Greg." After he said that, Grissom walked off towards his office.

"Nice going, Sanders," Greg whispered to himself as he started to stalk off towards his lab again. "Just make yourself look like a jackass in front of Grissom!"

"You are a jackass so you can't help yourself," Sara said smiling as she walked right towards him.

Greg merely laughed sarcastically, "Thanks for the boost of confidence, I really needed that."

Laughing now, Sara waved, "C'mon, we're going to meet your buddy Walts and search his very protected dorm."

"He's not my buddy," Greg pointed out quickly and decided that he wanted to talk about what happened the night before, "and about last night."

Sara cut him off, "Shut up, Sanders. Let's just close this case."

Feeling a little abashed, Greg just somberly nodded and turned around and followed Sara as she brushed passed him holding the blue warrant protectively in her hands.

They didn't speak too much on the drive up there, but the tension was so thick as if it were like fog in the early morning where you can barely see your hand in front of your face. As they drove into the parking lot, Greg saw Rogers standing there with his partner Hudson leaning against their patrol car laughing. Immediately, Greg stole a quick glance to see how Sara was holding up. Apparently already spotting the two haughty officers, Sara's usually sternly beautiful face now had a look of anxiety.

"We'll get the search done quickly and then we'll be out of here in no time," Greg said hoping to reassure as best he could.

Sara parked a few spaces down from where Rogers's and Hudson's patrol car was parked. Greg leisurely got out of the car with his crime kit sitting snuggly on his shoulder and rounded the car in wait of Sara. She was still sitting in the driver's seat just staring into space. Greg guessed what she was thinking, feeling, and going through. After all, in the tenth grade, the prettiest girl in his grade came up to him one day and asked him out, to his surprise. He got ready as soon as he got home; to say he was elated was an understatement. Well, he went to meet her at the burger joint and she never showed. The next day at school, Greg felt exactly what Sara was feeling at this moment, used and hurt.

"Sara," he whispered softly trying not to sound overbearing, "are you okay?"

She snapped out of her chain of thought and nodded, "Yeah." Sara hastily grabbed her kit and the warrant and quickly got out of the SUV.

Greg led the way over to the two officers and merely smirked at the two. "Well, we're going to make an arrest and search suspect's room so we're going to need both of you today."

They both stood up and nodded; Rogers winked at Sara when he reached his full height. Sara just forced a smile in return and said nothing to him. Rogers sensed her standoffish attitude right off the bat and his flirty expression turned to stone almost immediately.

Greg turned and started to walk into the dorm and into the open elevator, holding it for Sara, Rogers, and Hudson. None of them spoke to each other on their way up to the designated floor and as soon as the steel sliding door opened college life hit their ears.

Like the hall had been before on their many trips to the dorm, it was busy and crowded. College students entered and exited many open dorm rooms as the group passed by and soon students stopped and stared at the very formal and serious group.

Greg knew what they were probably thinking and whispering to their friends as they watched on. His guess was correct when he heard someone say to another person, "They must've made a break through." The statement seemed to have relayed through the hall quicker than a track star around the track. Excitement in many people's eyes was evident and others just solemnly nodded when they agreed with the assumption.

Finally they made it to Steven Walts's dorm room and unlike all of the other doors, his was closed.

Sara brushed by Greg and knocked on the door; she wanted to be the leader of this case, after all it was hers to begin with and Greg wasn't insulted by that.

A couple of seconds later, Steven opened the door slowly and stood in his doorframe looking agitated. "What d'you guys want?"

Sara merely smirked and then raised the blue warrant. "We want you in handcuffs and down at the police station and the keys to your room to be exact."

Shock and fear evaded Steven's features when she said this. "What?" He asked rather shakily as Hudson grabbed Steven's wrist and pulled him out in the hall and started to read him his rights as he started to handcuff him.

"What am I being arrested for?" Steven asked as the color from his face lighted considerably.

"For the murder of Chris Johnson," Greg called over his shoulder as he pulled his gloves on and entered Steven's now very unprotected room.

Instinctively, Greg headed over to his desk and started look through his drawers. But as he looked on his desk's face, he found Steven's English paper lying out. The handwriting looked exactly like the handwriting in the journal, which contained the discriminating motive plainly.

He raised the paper and said, "I've got a match on the handwriting in the journal."

Sara handed him an evidence bag, but said nothing in return to his find. Instead, she went back to his small locked trunk at the foot of his bed.

"Hey Rogers," Sara yelled as she knelt down and looked at the lock.

Rogers came in obediently with a smug smile on his face; he must've thought she was calling him to apologize. "Yeah?"

"Go get some shears that would cut this lock off for us?" She said without even looking at him as she rose and looked through Steven's closet.

Rogers looked taken aback by this favor, but a second later nodded, "All right."

"Thanks," responded flatly as she looked on the shelf above where the clothes were hanging.

When Rogers made his way out of the room, Greg smirked to himself as he happily searched through Steven's desk some more.

Silence, except for the noises of moved possessions, ensued the dorm room. It was awkward and tense, but Greg tried to push it aside in hopes of closing this case by nightfall if he kept the pace he was going now.

A few minutes later, Rogers returned to the dorm with the shears in his hand. He was red in the face probably because of searching for the shears and also because of his confused and upset attitude. He handed the shears over to Sara who didn't show any kind of emotion when she took them and headed back over to the trunk.

"Ah, do you need me to cut the lock?" Greg asked seeing as the lock was pretty thick and he didn't know how strong Sara was.

"Stop being sexist and keep looking for some more evidence." Sara responded as she gripped the shears better and placed the steel blades up against one side of the lock and cut the lock efficiently enough to pull it off.

She turned and smiled at Greg. "So Greggo, did you think I was going to break a nail?"

"Ugh, no. I just thought…" Greg started but stopped when he heard how prejudice he was being to Sara. "Sorry, I'm a jackass."

"At least you admitted it," Sara said as she placed the shears on the ground and then pulled the trunk's top up.

From the look on her face, Sara seemed to have found the hidden treasure. Greg came over and looked into the trunk and saw wigs, women's clothing, and make-up.

His eyebrows rose and a smile slid onto his face, "I guess I could say that he was a transvestite after all!"

Sara looked perplexed and amused at the same time. Then she looked up at Greg with a small smile plastered on to her face, "No, he's a crossdresser, not a transvestite. But that's beside the point, do you know what this does to our case?"

Feeling as though some of his thunder had been stolen, Greg said in a less jovial voice, "Not particularly, we have everything we need."

Sara stood up and started to bag each article in the trunk into evidence bags. "It helps the motive a little bit more. If he was both secretly gay and a cross dresser, then he wasn't ready for his little secret to get out and Chris was threatening to do that when he highlighted one of Steven's secrets in Steven's journal."

"Oh, yeah— right," Greg said wanting to kick himself.

After he finished a thorough search through Steven's desk, Greg moved on to his bed.

"Hey Sara," he began, "but if Chris took Steven's journal, doesn't that mean that he was a friend or something?"

She stopped bagging when he asked this. "Well, yeah. If he didn't then he might've saw how Steven looked at him and sneaked into his room when Steven wasn't here and searched for something to see if he was really gay." When she said this, Sara started to bag again, "But really that shouldn't matter how he came upon it because either way he did, it gave Steven a motive to shut him up and he did."

Greg nodded in agreement, "Good point."

He started to lift the mattress up and see if Steven was hiding anything under it, but nothing was there. Greg then proceeded and got on the floor and grabbed his flashlight and looked under his bed and just like the top was clean the bottom was as well.

Sweating a little as he pushed himself up off the floor and turned and headed back towards his kit, this was sitting on top of the desk, and placed his flashlight and gloves in it. Right when he was doing so, Sara was sealing the last evidence bag and practically mimicking what Greg just done with an exception of the flashlight which she hadn't used.

When she finished cleaning up she looked over at Greg. "Hey Greg, can you give me a hand with some of the evidence bags? I can't fit them all in my kit."

Greg nodded and she smiled appreciatively, "Thanks."

He grabbed the remainder of the evidence bags and placed them safely into his kit and closed it again.

"All right, all set," he said as he swung the kit onto his shoulder to find that Sara wasn't in the room.

Greg went outside in the hall to see if she was out there but neither was she or Rogers out there. Concerned, Greg went up to a student who had been standing against the opposite wall talking to a friend.

"Hey," Greg greeted as the lanky student looked at him. "I was wondering if you saw where the officer who was standing on that wall," Greg pointed to it, "had gone to."

The lanky student smiled and nodded, "Yeah," he pointed to the staircase that was the next door down, "he went in there with your partner."

Greg smiled at the student, "Thanks man."

"No problem, just doing my civic duty." He said as he turned back to the other student who he was talking to before Greg came up.

Worried and curious, Greg walked over to the stairwell, where Chris had been hung, and as soon as he was about to shove the door open, he heard voices.

"What do you mean that you can't make the date tomorrow? I set the reservations and everything!" Rogers's muffled voice asked exasperatedly.

"Exactly how it sounds, I'm canceling." Sara's testy voice returned. Greg smirked when he heard this.

After a few seconds of silence, Rogers began to speak again. "At least tell me why."

Sara's laughter started to echo, "Let's just leave it at this, how about that?"

Then the door swung open immediately after and Sara ran into Greg, who hadn't expected the conversation to have ended that hurriedly, didn't move out of the way quick enough.

"Ouch," Greg said as he rose from the ground to see a fuming Sara standing over him.

"What the hell are you doing, Sanders?" Sara barked loudly.

Greg smiled meekly; he was afraid of this enraged Sara so he took a step away from her. "I was looking for you and I, ugh, was just about to open the door when you came pelting out and clumsily ran into me."

"More like you were eavesdropping," Sara whispered dangerously, which freaked Greg out even.

He laughed uncomfortably, "It's not my fault you ran into me!"

"Whatever." Sara spat and she picked up her kit off the floor which had flown off her when she ran into Greg. "Let's just head over to the police station and see Walts and get this case over with."

Greg swallowed the lump in his throat that had risen when he berated him. But he tamely followed Sara out of the dorm and into the parking lot. The sun was already sending an orangey-red glow into the sky. Greg huffed inwardly when he fastened his seat belt; he knew it was going to be a long, bumpy road back.

Author's Notes:

Well, I just want to say thanks to everyone who's been reading and everyone who has been reviewing as well. I appreciate all of your comments so much! I hope this chapter was up to par for all of you and if it wasn't just holler. I'm expecting in the next chapter or two that the story will be finished. I haven't decided really; it depends upon the length of the next one if I will end it or not. Thanks for sticking around this long and I hope you'll stay to see the conclusion!


	7. Case Closed

Chapter Seven: Case Closed

The motor's humming was the only sound that was heard on the drive back to the police station. Greg wished that he could say sorry or at least try to make amends with Sara, but he found it extremely difficult to say something clever and un-cliché let alone be able to form words. His mind was troubled as well as his heart. He would give anything just be on good terms with Sara again.

Right when the sun had finally set and there was a light dark blue hue about in the sky, they pulled into the station's parking lot. Greg cleared his throat unconsciously and grabbed his kit before taking his seat belt off. Sara, on the other hand, hastily took her seat belt off and grabbed her kit and hopped out of the car quickly without waiting for Greg. Lagging behind slightly, Greg had to power-walk to catch up with his partner who was trying her best to make him feel no better than pond scum.

When they reached the door, Greg, out instinct, reached for the door's handle so Sara could go in first. But instead, Sara snapped, "I got it," and rudely brushed past Greg and opened the door only for herself and marched in.

Greg just swallowed the intentional rudeness from Sara and dealt with it. He wasn't going to get angry at her; he supposed he deserved it in a sense. After all, Greg did end the happiness she had encountered in a while. "Ignorance is bliss" like Thomas Gray put it so many years ago. He entered the station and followed Sara up to the counter, who was asking which interrogation room Walts was in.

"In interrogation room four, ma'am," the officer said looking at his chart. "He's been lawyered up though so don't plan on getting too much out of him."

Sara nodded curtly and grabbed one of the visitor tags the officer laid down on the counter for them. "Thanks for the heads up."

Greg grabbed the one tag left and clipped it on his navy blue jacket. "Who's his lawyer?"

The slim officer laughed softly, "Bentley, Richard Bentley."

Sara let out a muffled, raspy huff. "Great! With that guy as his lawyer, we'll be lucky if we even hear Steven say 'hello.'"

"Well, I had a case with Bentley once," Greg stated as they started to walk to room four, "and he usually just talks his way out of his client being interrogated. So if we just happen to push Steven's buttons subtly without his lawyer having any idea what we're implying then," Greg adjusted his kit's strap. "Then, we might have a chance at Steven spilling it while Bentley's bewildered."

Sara didn't say anything right away, but Greg could tell that she was pondering what he had just said. When they made it to the door, Sara stopped and looked at Greg. "It might just work."

Greg smiled at her slightly and opened the door for her without Sara objecting. She brushed past him and entered the murky room silently with Greg following her on her heels.

"Like I said before Lieutenant," Bentley said calmly, "Unless you have eyewitnesses saying that they saw my client in the victim's room prior to the murder, you have nothing only that my client had come across the victim in the stairwell."

"Wrong," Sara stated bluntly as she heard the lawyer's rebuttal, "we have your client's fingerprint— in blood, no less— on the sheet that was wrapped around Chris Johnson's neck that was used as a makeshift noose."

Bentley just smiled up at Sara and straightened his tie slightly. "The fingerprint your team found was a partial which could've matched anybody with the same pattern as Mr. Walts's." His egotistical air was already suffocating Greg and he hadn't been in the room for more than a minute.

Sara just forced a smile back at the arrogant lawyer, "Yes, it was partial, but it matched more than fifteen matching characters that match Steven's prints, which makes it a match by law."

This time Bentley just laughed as if this was all a joke. "Please, like I told the Lieutenant here," he gestured to the officer, "that all you have is my client passing the victim's corpse in the stairwell and touching the body."

"Then that's tampering with evidence," Greg said confidently. "Plus, if you're client did come across the body, why didn't he report that when we questioned him?" Greg took a seat at the stainless steel table and stared directly at Steven, especially at his healing bruised eye. "How did you get that, huh Steven?"

"Don't answer that, Steven," his lawyer whispered forcibly and then sat up even straighter and stared Greg down. "He was afraid to report the murder because he knew he would be the next target of the killer."

Sara let out a cry of exasperation and disbelief. "Oh really? That the killer was going to come after him next?" She walked over to the table and leaned against it, "No, I think he didn't want to make himself a suspect right away, especially since his eye was swollen."

"Steve," Greg started softly, "we have enough evidence to put you at the crime scene and with motive."

Steven's eyes, which had been staring intently at the top of the table, had now shot up fearfully and looked at Greg. "How?" His voice quivered just thinking about it.

Greg grimaced slightly and looked at him as if it wasn't obvious. "We know you're secret and connected the dots when we found your journal in Chris's room."

His lawyer bent towards Steven and asked quickly, surprise and irritation was evident, "What's he talking about?"

"He doesn't know, Steven?" Greg pressed on not wanting to pressure to answer his lawyer and listen to Greg to dissipate at all. That's what needed, pressure so Walts would finally crack under the burden of it.

His lawyer again breathed heavily into Steven's ear, "What's he talking about?"

"We saw what Chris read and what he had highlighted. When did you notice it was missing, Steve, or did you notice that he was dodging you every time he saw you walking towards him?" Greg continued asking him. His heart was racing unusually; he felt the adrenaline pumping because he knew that he was in control of the entire situation.

"Steven, answer me! What is he talking about?" Bentley continued to ask more forcibly.

By this time, Steven was looking as if he was going to lose it. His face was contorted out of fear and disbelief.

"What happened when you approached him that night in his room, Steve? Did he attack you or did you go in there with the knife behind your back knowing that it had to end before anyone found out about you." Greg asked in a dangerous sort of tone even surprising himself slightly by its crazed character.

"No," Steven finally yelled out in exasperation and fright. "I mean yes!"

Bentley looked as if he wasn't hearing correctly, "Stop, don't say another word."

"No, I have to!" Steven said hysterically with tears starting to form in his eyes. He turned to look at Greg now, "I didn't go there wanting to kill him. When he saw it was me at the door, he tried to shut the door on me, but I stuck my foot in the doorframe to stop that. So, I shoved my way in while asking him what his problem was." He stopped and was really to starting cry.

"What happened next, Steve?" Greg asked gently, not wanting to rush him because he was obviously mourning what had happened.

Steven looked up at the ceiling as if begging for this all to end. Again, Bentley tried to intervene and stop him from answering any further, but Walts just waved him off.

"He looked at me as if I was disgusting or something and told me to get out. I didn't so he started to beat me up." He paused again as he roughly wiped at his tears, "I finally fought him off, but then he just started to threaten me by exposing that I was gay. I couldn't have that so I pulled out my pocket knife and told him that that wasn't going to happen. When he saw I had a knife he backed off even more and fell on his bed, he said wasn't going to if I just put the knife away. I started to but then he rushed me again!" At this, he started to cry even harder and his words were starting to become slurred.

Greg felt a lump in his throat start to form; he felt sorry for Steve, he killed the one person who held his heart.

"I wasn't anticipating it so I just held the knife out and he ran into it and fell back on his bed with blood oozing out his stomach. Then he started to scream out for help, well I went over there to help him, but he just kicked me away screaming that I just stabbed him. I didn't know what came over me, I just stabbed him again and he fell off his bed with more blood just going everywhere." He slammed his fists against the table, "I don't remember anymore. I'm sorry, but I don't—I just blacked out at that point."

Sara finally cleared her throat, "We're going to need you to write your confession now."

Steve didn't respond to her, he just crumbled then. "I killed him and I loved him so much!"

Greg slowly got out of his chair and walked over to the Lieutenant and whispered, "Are we going to cut him a deal at all? After all, it wasn't premeditated and he did confess."

The Lieutenant shook his head, "I don't think so, Greg."

Greg nodded his head with morose for Steve. "Alright then," he said as he walked out of interrogation room and leaned against the opposite wall, waiting for Sara to come out. He waited for a couple of seconds until Sara finally emerged, closing the door behind her.

"Way to go, Sanders." She said in flat sort of way. Sara must have felt that I stole the case right out from under her. At that, she started to walk back over to the counter and hand her visitor tag back in.

Feeling even more down, Greg practically walked slower than ever and time seemed to be even more sluggish. He handed his tag back in and the officer looked at him strangely.

"No luck?" He asked with a frown on his face.

"Actually, we got a conviction," Greg said in a monotonous voice as he started to head back to the SUV, which he could tell that Sara was already in and waiting for him.

As soon as he hopped in, she barely even waited for him to close his door before she tore off back to the lab. Again, silence prevailed, but this time Greg didn't even bother trying to think something up to break it. He wanted to brood and be sulky for a while since he rarely ever did; he was a nice guy and nice guys did brood.

When Sara parked the car finally, Greg just grabbed his bag and got out. This time he wasn't even going to bother waiting for Sara since she wasn't going to forgive him for a long time. What's the point if you're already losing, right?

He stalked through the lab passing by his fellow colleagues and friends, who actually stopped and stared at him as the passed by. He must've looked pissed off and it was no question that he was. It was as if he made it back to the locker room in record time because he got there quicker than anytime before. He didn't waste anytime thinking about his speed, he just headed directly for his locker and started to take his CSI jacket off hastily. A minute later, he heard the locker room door squeak open and less than a few seconds later, Sara turned the corner and opened her locker.

Tension was evident because it was radiating from both of them rapidly and rested between them uncomfortably. Every so often, Greg would sneak a sharp glance over at Sara who would be switching out certain objects, like her navy blue issued jacket for her street one. She was finished in a matter of seconds and looked over at Greg.

"See you tomorrow," Sara said in her regular tone as if nothing had happened between them throughout the entire case.

Appalled and slightly more pissed off by that, Greg laughed, "Whatever."

She stopped dead in her tracks and spun around and stared him down. "What?"

Greg stopped staring blankly in his dark locker and turned to look at her. "I said 'whatever.'" He annunciated each syllable crisply.

Sara then started to laugh at his response, apparently not taking him seriously. "Okay, right. I'll see you tomorrow, Greg!"

"What's wrong with you?" Greg asked exasperatedly, his anger was still coursing throughout his body and he wasn't in the mood for her new and improved attitude.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You're the one acting as if I did something to you!" Sara yelled in turn as she again spun around and started walking towards him.

Greg slammed his locker shut and leaned his back against it. "You were the one giving me the cold shoulder all today, practically crucifying me for telling you what a prick Rogers was!"

She looked at the ground and then back up at Greg. He could see that the matter still hadn't healed over even though her coldness to Rogers that day was out of revenge. Her brown eyes that usually held a stern seriousness about them held pain. Unlike she usually would in a situation like this, she didn't reply or even stare him down as if he were a rat.

Feeling guilty about his rash and belligerent act against her, Greg cleared his throat and whispered, "I'm sorry for yelling at you."

She shook her head slowly, "No, don't apologize. You're right; I have treated you pretty badly today and really every other day on this case as well." Sara looked back at the ground again, "I'm sorry."

Greg huffed and shoved himself lightly off of his locker and cautiously walked over to Sara until she was right in front of him. He didn't quite know what he was going to do; he wasn't great in these situations, especially when the girl was emotional. For the first time in all the years he knew Sara, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her. She must have been shocked and just as surprised by this as he was himself. But after a few seconds, she too hugged him back.

They just stood there hugging each other in silence listening to the smooth breathing of the other. But soon after, Greg pulled away and looked at someone's anonymous locker. "Again, I'm sorry for yelling at you."

She laughed slightly, "I deserved it." And then Sara started to fiddle with her hands by wringing them. "Hey Greg," he looked up at her, "that one night when you told me…"

"Please, let's not relive it since it must be embarrassing for you to know that a geek like me likes you," Greg laughed feeling his cheeks burn slightly and again dropping his head.

Sara didn't say anything right away, probably contemplating the situation. "Greg, I don't think it's embarrassing at all," she stated softly. "Actually, after thinking about it, I can't believe I've always avoided thinking about you liking me for so long."

Hearing this, Greg's head shot up to look at her properly. She had a goofy smile on her face, "What?" He asked obviously believing he misunderstood her.

"Sanders just shut up," she whispered playfully and closed the gap between them and kissed him softly.

Amazed and totally shocked, Greg didn't automatically, but the longer the kiss lasted the more he started to believe what was happening.

Finally Sara pulled back leisurely and looked at him smiling faintly. Greg was already smiling and then something caught his attention. "I thought the guy was supposed to kiss the girl?"

"Don't act sexist, Greggo!" Sara replied as he started to lean in for another kiss.

This kiss was much more passionate than there first kiss for a number of reasons, but the main one because they both finally accepted what they both had been denying for years now that this was their turn at love.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Greg's eyes were burned by the bright sunlight rays that were hitting his defenseless tired eyes. His alarm clock kept making its annoying alarm until Greg finally got irritated with it enough and slapped it hard enough that it felt on the ground at stopped.

His heart started aching considerably when he remembered what he had been dreaming of. "Sara," he softly whispered just thinking about the kiss that he was so sure had been real— he could still feel the warm kiss on his lips as if it had just happened. The thought just seared his heart to pieces.

Grudgingly, Greg rubbed at his eyes to try to wake up further, but the attempt was futile. Finally, he swung his legs off of the bed and felt the cold wooden floor beneath his feet.

"Ugh, Greg go back to bed," someone muttered behind him. Greg looked quickly over his shoulder seeing Sara on his other side of the bed.

Bewildered and utterly at a lost, Greg looked all over his room. He found certain objects that weren't there before, many of them being pictures of them together. Suddenly, memories flooded his mind and he finally remembered that he and Sara had now been together for a year and that his dream wasn't just a dream after all— it was how they came to be as a couple.

Smiling brightly, Greg laid back down and wrapped a arm around his Sara and whispered happily in her ear, "I love you, Sara."

She nuzzled her face into his neck and whispered back to him sleepily, but genuinely, "I love you too, Sanders. Now shut up so I can get some more sleep!"

Greg laughed quietly when he heard her response. "Alright," he cooed softly after he kissed her forehead tenderly.

He watched her fall back asleep in his arms and soon after she did, he too fell into a deep sleep dreaming of them together like they were now but hardly wishing for a single thing to change.

Author's Notes:

Well, I hope you all liked the ending to the story! I hope it wasn't too mushy or predictable and if it was please tell me. I apologize for not updating it sooner, but with all the happened at the end of my summer and then school starting back up again, it was hard updating all of my stories, especially this one since it had case and not just an angsty love conflict. Well, I just want to thank everyone who read this story and everyone who reviewed. It means a lot to a writer to know that people are actually enjoying their story let alone reading it! So again, I'm very grateful that you all stuck around and read it because it was the main reason why it's here. You all rock and I will try to write another Greg/Sara story—that's if you all want one! Lol!


End file.
